Georgia is following in the footsteps of metro Atlanta, posting a 7.7 percent jobless rate in December, the same as the metro area in November.

But metro Atlanta has stayed ahead of the state by dropping its December numbers to 7.0 percent, equal to the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate.

The Georgia Department of Labor announced Dec. 26 the Georgia and metro Atlanta results are the lowest rates in five years.

Metro Atlanta’s rate was 6.9 percent in October 2008.

Georgia’s was 7.6 percent in November 2008.

“The rate is down because of strong job growth and a very good drop in new claims for unemployment insurance benefits,” state Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement. “The number of new jobs is the best October-to-November growth since 2007 and the number of new claims is the lowest for any month since September 2007. Both of these numbers pre-date the recession.”

Henry County’s rate fell as well, from 7.9 percent in late October to 7.1 in late November.

About 1,000 more residents joined the working ranks in that one-month period.

“Metro Atlanta employers added 14,300 jobs in November, increasing the number of jobs to 2,447,600, up by 0.6 percent from 2,433,300 in October,” department spokesman Sam Hall said in a statement. “Most of the new jobs were added in trade, transportation and warehousing, government, leisure and hospitality, education, health care, services and construction.”

Stockbridge, though, stayed flat by posting the same unemployment rate as last month, 10.1, with about 1,300 residents out of work.

The rate is still lower than its November 2012 rate of 10.3 percent, when 1,370 of the city’s more than 13,000 workers were jobless.

The county rate in November 2012 was 8.6 percent, representing about 9,300 jobless in a work force of 108,000.

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